How will A.I. transform the smart warehouse?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on the rise and is set to be a key component of improving efficiency in the smart warehouse. Let’s take a look at the elements in warehouse operations that will be transformed by AI.

An average warehouse with three warehouse workers picking and packing has an average error rate of 15.5%. Warehouses that implement automated management systems reduce errors and financial losses, bringing this rate down to 9.4%. For example, a warehouse
that handles a total order value of $5,000,000 could save $305,000 every year.

At Ocado, the online supermarket, wireless 4G is used to allow a 1,000 member fleet of pick-and-pack robots to communicate more effectively. Inside their fully automated warehouse, these robots communicate and converse back-and-forth at a mesmerising
10 times per second, within a 150m radius of each other. As a result, human inaccuracies are eliminated and profits have the potential to grow.

Multiple warehouse operations are expected to become automated by 2030 with AI replacing thousands of employees when it comes to repetitive activities. In total, 30% of UK jobs will become automated. The operations with the highest risk of job loss
to the robots are; predictable physical activities (81%) processing data (69%), and collecting data (64%).

It’s not just warehouse operations and running costs that could save money with the support of AI; money spent on employee wages could also be saved. The total savings on employee wages, who currently work on warehouse activities that could become
automated, is a huge $15.8 trillion worldwide.

Here are the eye-watering wages figures that could be saved per country:

Imagine a smart warehouse where staff could operate on 5 minutes of charging time per hour rather than 8 hours sleep. Amazon’s revolutionary Kiva robots need 5 minutes of charging time every hour which means an increase in productivity and KPIs
are more likely to be met.

On average, a warehouse with an inventory value of $1,000,000 spends $46,817 in inventory process expenses annually. An automated warehouse with wireless handheld computers reduces this expense to just $35,066, saving a single warehouse $11,751 per
year which could be invested in business growth opportunities.

AI has already begun to revolutionise the many fields that make up the smart warehouse, and it’s only expected to grow. The above operations will be transformed by AI in just a matter of years.

This is the potential of automation in smart warehouses of the future.